


Pretty Poison

by Ursula



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Lyric Wheel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-01-08
Updated: 2006-01-08
Packaged: 2019-02-05 14:36:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12796554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ursula/pseuds/Ursula
Summary: A weary Alex is called back to duty by Scully and Jerimiah to save Mulder from the clutches of Fowley.





	Pretty Poison

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Haven, the archivist: This story was originally archived at [Fandom Haven Story Archive (FHSA)](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Fandom_Haven_Story_Archive), was scheduled to shut down at the end of 2016. To preserve the archive, I began working with the OTW to transfer the stories to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in November 2017. If you are this creator and the work hasn't transferred to your AO3 account, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Fandom Haven Story Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/fhsa/profile).

  
Author's notes: Written in 2004. I found this on my old Dell and cleaned it up to post.  


* * *

Title: Pretty Poison

 

Author/Pseudonym: Ursula

 

Fandom: X-Files

 

Pairing: Mulder and Krycek

 

Rating: Adult slash

 

Status: Complete

 

Date Posted: Repost 01-08-06

 

Archive: FHSA, DIB, FONXL, WWOMB, Gossamer 

 

E-mail address for feedback: Fan4Richie@aol.com or Ursula4X@aol.com

 

Classification: Romance, Story, post series

 

Series/Sequel: Is this story part of a series: Stand Alone

 

Disclaimers: No profit, fan fiction for fun

 

Notes: Written for the M/K lyric wheel

 

Warnings: Slash 

 

Time Frame: Post series

 

 

 

 

OooOooO

 

 

I was drinking. Last night, I had been smoking. I hate smoking. It reminds me of Spender. Not the kid...I kinda liked Jeff, poor little rabbit. Big Man Spender was the one who got me smoking. I broke the habit a dozen times, but too many missions, too many late-night, lonely rooms and I would smoke my little friends again. 

 

 

Last night I stood on the fire escape, taking a deep drag of my last cigarette. I pulled the bitter fumes deep into me, feeling them coil around my lungs like a poisonous snake. That was the way Spender crept into me. I thought I was my own man. I thought I could play the game and keep a little clean, keep a little part of me that didn't belong to him. I was wrong, of course.

 

 

I threw the cigarette down. It spiraled in the darkness. One glowing ember down, down, down. I almost believed that it could stay lit in the murk below, but when I looked down all the light was gone. 

 

 

I crumpled the cellophane pack. I kept my bargains, even with myself. One carton was my deal and that was the last cigarette of the last pack.

 

 

Damn...

 

 

So tonight I was drinking, thinking about getting drunk. 

 

 

That's when good old Jeremiah showed up with Little Red right behind him.

 

 

OooOooO

 

 

I wasn't quick enough to block the door. Jeremiah moved past me with Scully in tow.

 

 

My hotel room wasn't a flop, but it wasn't the Hilton either. Scully sat down in the only chair, pulling the hem of her coat up as if she was afraid it was going to be dirty.

 

 

"Jeremiah, what's up?" I said, dropping down to my bed. "I thought we agreed I could have a couple of weeks."

 

 

"Something has come up," Jeremiah said.

 

 

"Something always seems to come up," I bitched. I reached for the Southern Comfort I had sitting on the bed table.

 

 

"I wouldn't think a drinking man could have survived as long as you have," Scully said. "Besides don't you drink vodka?"

 

 

"Vodka's for toothaches and Mulder, if there's much of a difference," I replied, offering a little plastic sealed cup to Scully. To my surprise, she took it.

 

 

I switched on my music, Janis Joplin filtered into the room. "One Good Man"

 

 

"What the hell do you want, Red," I asked, as Scully tossed back a shot of my bourbon.

 

 

"I left Mulder last fall," Scully said.

 

 

"Why?" I asked. Why the hell would she do a thing like that?

 

 

"Diana Fowley turned back up," Scully said.

 

 

Scully and I shared a moment, both of us grimacing. "I thought she was dead," I said. 

 

 

"There's a lot of that going around," Scully said dryly.

 

 

Sometimes I like Little Red. She was always the one that scared me out of the two of them.

 

 

"I thought you two were together," I said.

 

 

"I made the same mistake," Scully replied.

 

 

"He fucking dumped you for Fowley?" I asked, oddly indignant on her behalf.

 

 

"He said he had to find out if it was really her. He said it wasn't for any other reason." Scully replied. She put her head back, looking dissolute and pale in the dimly lit room. "I've heard that before." She gave me a pointed look.

 

 

Well, shit, I didn't know that Mulder told her. I thought nice guys don't tell.

 

 

"What can I say, Mulder wanted a walk on the wild side," I replied.

 

 

"It was more than that," Scully said.

 

 

"I don't think so," I said, closing my eyes. Shutting your eyes doesn't help when the images you don't want to see are locked in your head. Mulder looked at me. Mulder's face coming closer as he leaned close to kiss me.

 

 

"What did you think he could do?" Scully asked, her voice oddly gentle. "You didn't ask him for help. You didn't give it a chance either."

 

 

"Thanks for the advice," I said, opening my eyes to reach for the Southern Comfort.

 

 

Jeremiah was across the room before my hand could close. "We have a bargain," Jeremiah reminded me.

 

 

"And I've kept it," I replied, a twinge in my restored left arm reminded me of the power Jeremiah had over me. God protect us from Good Men. They are the dangerous ones. I glared at Jeremiah and said, "Popular opinion to the contrary. I'm only human. I need a break now and then."

 

 

"You've had one," Jeremiah said. "We need Mulder."

 

 

"So clone one," I said. "What the hell do you expect me to do?"

 

 

"Get Mulder back before Fowley kills him," Scully said. She sauntered across the room, sat on my bed, and put her dainty white hand on my stubble rough chin, moving my face from one angle to the other. She said, "Every doctor knows that sometimes it takes one poison to contradict the other. Mulder's hooked on pretty poison and you're oh so pretty, Krycek."

 

 

I looked from Jeremiah to Scully and I realized I was fucked.

 

 

OooOooO

 

 

Poison? I didn't realize how literal Scully could be until I saw him. Mulder looked sick. He looked as if he lost twenty or even thirty pounds. He had dark circles beneath his eyes and couldn't even muster a fist in my face when I walked into the bar.

 

 

Fowley was right there behind him, combing her talons through his hair. "Alex, how nice to see you," Fowley purred.

 

 

Mulder barely raised his head enough to see me. He picked up his shot glass and raised it to his lips. It was empty. He stared into it as if confused.

 

 

"My glass is empty," Mulder complained after a minute. He set it down, pathetic eyes on Fowley.

 

 

"I think you had enough," I said, taking the glass from him.

 

 

"Alex, don't be such a Mormon," Fowley said.

 

 

The bitch would remember that. A me I would rather forget, the straight-laced kid from Utah who was the shining star of his ward. "I was excommunicated when I was sixteen," I reminded her.

 

 

My parents put me in a psychiatric hospital when they caught me kissing another boy in my room. I took a left when the rest of my recreation group took a right not long after. I was on my knees earning my daily rent when Spender recruited me.

 

 

"You were a Mormon?" Mulder remarked, jolted from his fugue state.

 

 

"I said, I was excommunicated," I reminded.

 

 

"Get caught with your hand in the tithe?" Mulder asked, reaching for his glass.

 

 

"No, Mulder, got caught kissing a pretty boy who looked a lot like you," I said.

 

 

"I'll get you another drink," Fowley said, standing up. She shot another look my way, bitchy, triumphant, and mean. "Gin with Orange again?" she asked.

 

 

"Yeah," Mulder said, slumping forward, face resting on his crossed arms on the table.

 

 

Well to hell with this. I watched Fowley's ass sashay through the crowded bar. The crowd closed around her and I stood up, grabbed me an armload of Mulder and walked out the door. Sometimes the most direct course of action is the best.

 

 

OooOooO

 

 

"What are you doing?" Mulder asked as I dragged him out the door. "I wanted another drink."

 

 

"You had enough to drink," I said. "You had enough to drink for a regiment of Marines by the smell of you." I could feel my nose furl up as another whiff of long-term drunk hit it.

 

 

"Fowley doesn't mind," Mulder muttered as I buckled him in.

 

 

"She's used to bad smells," I said, thinking of walking in on her and Spender. Forget primal scene...that was the one that scarred my psyche.

 

 

"What the hell are you planning, Alex?" Mulder asked.

 

 

"Jeremiah sent me for you," I said. "I'm going to take you to a way station, wash the stench of booze and Fowley off you, and then I'm going to try to fuck you back to life."

 

 

"Good luck trying," Mulder said, head flopping back against the car seat. "Can't get it up."

 

 

That unnatural bitch, Fowley, broke him!

 

 

However, no one could say that I couldn't handle what life threw at me. I gave Mulder my best cheerful smile and said, "Good, then I'll be on top."

 

 

Mulder tried to shrug, but only managed to produce a sort of wobbly shudder, ending in a wince.

 

 

"If that's going to do it for you," Mulder replied.

 

 

"You're not mad because I'm taking you away from Fowley?" I asked.

 

 

"She's the spider woman," Mulder said, before dozing off, head to one side.

 

 

I sighed. 'The Spiderwoman' and 'The Spiderwoman Strikes Back' were Mulder's favorite movies. I'm not talking about the thing with Raul Julia. These were original, grainy black and white horror stories. I must have watched them with him a dozen times in our brief relationship. I tried to tell him that it was his fear of women that attracted him to archetypical stereotypes like that slinky temptress, played by Gale Sondergaard. He turned me over his knee and spanked me for saying so or maybe he just wanted to spank me. At least, that broke up the monotony and turned his attention back to my ass, which was a lot more cinematic than those films.

 

 

OooOooO

 

 

The way station was a remote farm. Jeremiah liked farms. He liked remote. This one had a long dirt road that was lined by miles of white fencing. There was a huge barn, a big farm house, painted as white as the fences, but with green trim. There were several people working in the fields, but none of them spared more than a brief glance at my black Ford truck.

 

 

The small cottage behind the big house was probably a foreman's house or possibly was originally the retirement house for the patriarch and matriarch of the farm dynasty that had once ruled this place. Jeremiah said the place was comfortable and I would not be disturbed while I rehabilitated Mulder.

 

 

All I could hope for was that there was plenty of hot water and soap. I couldn't believe Mulder had let himself get in this state. And, Fowley? Why the hell had Fowley let him? The woman was a skank, but I couldn't believe she would crawl into bed with this ripe, redolent version of my former lover.

 

 

I pulled up close to the door. Even with two arms and even with Mulder as thin as he now was, Mulder was heavy. He wasn't very helpful either. He was very weak, not just drunk.

 

 

Grumbling to myself, I walked Mulder in, set him on the couch, and went to inspect the bathroom. It was a good-sized room with a big old fashioned bathtub with plenty of room for two men. It had a handheld shower extension that should be useful in cleaning an uncooperative Mulder.

 

 

Walking Mulder into the bathroom, I parked him on the toilet seat while I ran the bath.

 

 

"Alex, I don't want a bath. I just want to go to bed," Mulder whined.

 

 

"You're having a bath," I growled.

 

 

"I want a drink," Mulder added.

 

 

"You are on the wagon, Mulder," I said. 

 

 

"Fuck you," Mulder replied, showing all of that Oxford education.

 

 

"Gonna be hard doing that if you can't get it up," I replied.

 

 

The water pressure was great and the water heater must have been new and modern by the instant gush of steamy water from the tap. Someone had stocked piles of huge, fluffy towels and there was a good supply of shampoo, shaving supplies, and other toiletries.

 

 

While the bath poured, I turned to stripping Mulder. He was wearing blue jeans and a sweater, both raunchy with sweat. I spotted bruises and bite marks. Nice touch, Fowley. What the hell were those evenly spaced puncture marks? Had she drugged Mulder? Well, that would explain his uncharacteristic passivity. Still why two punctures? A needle would only create one.

 

 

"Mulder, what did Fowley do to you?" I asked.

 

 

"Bit me," Mulder said sleepily.

 

 

"She bit you," I replied. "Yeah, I see that, but what about these puncture marks?"

 

 

"I told you, she bit me!" Mulder said. He reached his hand up, exploring the puncture wounds.

 

 

I took a closer look. The outside of the wounds were white and there was a serum like discharge. The wounds were red beyond the pale ring of dead flesh. I had seen something like this before in the desert. Spider bites, but these were huge ones. It made me feel sick and nervous.

 

 

"Mulder, these look like a huge spider bit you," I stated, trying to stay calm.

 

 

"Yeah, lucky you got to me before she was sure she was going to carry to term," Mulder said.

 

 

"Huh?" I said, sounding like an airhead. I guided Mulder to the bathtub and got him in the water.

 

 

"I told you she is the Spider Woman," Mulder said. "Once she reproduces, there's no use for the male. Unless she's hungry..."

 

 

"Mulder..." I started to say, but what if he was right? His wounds looked like human bites, surrounding a large spider bite.

 

 

Settling Mulder in the tub, I said, "Don't you dare fall asleep and drown. I have to make a phone call."

 

 

I didn't go very far and I left the door open so I could still see that Mulder's head was above the tub's edge.

 

 

"Jeremiah," I said. "Any healers here?"

 

 

"No, why? You didn't injure Mulder when you found him, did you?" Jeremiah said.

 

 

"Of course not," I replied. "I had no trouble at all. Walked into a bar, grabbed him and walked out. Fowley wasn't even paying attention."

 

 

"So what's the problem?" Jeremiah asked.

 

 

I could hear Scully's voice in the background.

 

 

"He has these spider bites," I said.

 

 

I could hear the wheels turning in Jeremiah's head. "Are these serious bites? From a brown recluse or a black widow?"

 

 

"They're strange. Human teeth marks surrounding what looks like a spider bite. They're necrotic, not grossly so, but they don't look good," I explained. "He's running a fever too."

 

 

"I'll send someone," Jeremiah said. "Just keep him there."

 

 

"No problem," I said. "he doesn't seem to want to get away. Get me some help." I added, "I don't know what the hell Fowley did to Mulder, but he's sick as well as in need of detox."

 

 

Walking back into the steamy bathroom, I knelt on the floor beside the tub. Mulder looked at me with drowsy eyes and smiled at me. He said, "I like being kidnapped by you. Never knew you liked to give guys bubble baths."

 

 

"You're on my short list for that," I replied, getting a washcloth. I washed the bite spots gingerly. "How come you let her do this to you?" I asked.

 

 

"Well, the first time, she just bit me and after that I couldn't stop her from doing anything she wanted,' Mulder said.

 

 

"She's a black widow spider," I said.

 

 

Mulder stared at me owlishly and said, "Black widow spiders seldom eat their mates. It's the species, Araneus Pallidus from Portugal, which eats its mate." 

 

 

"Thanks, Mulder," I said, moving my washcloth to more enjoyable regions. "I really thank you for your valuable knowledge."

 

 

"Hey, it's better than DOT statistics," Mulder said, spreading his legs further to accommodate my washcloth.

 

 

"Yeah, better for giving me nightmares," I said. "I don't like spiders."

 

 

"I never did either," Mulder said.

 

 

Finishing with Mulder's bath, I helped him out, sat him back down, and shaved him. 

 

 

"Do I look pretty enough for you now?" Mulder asked.

 

 

"Not really," I said, looking at the flesh pulled tight over his ribs. "It's like she was sucking the life right out of you."

 

 

Mulder felt his ribs and nodded. He said, "I think she was."

 

 

"Let's get you to bed," I said.

 

 

There were two bedrooms, but I didn't plan to use more than one. I picked the one with the king sized bed and put Mulder to bed. He reached for me and said, "Stay with me awhile."

 

 

Apparently, Fowley had sucked his brains out too. I climbed into bed and pulled him into my arms, patting his back. Mulder moved closer. He said, "Don't let Diana get me again."

 

 

"That's the plan," I said.

 

 

"Tell Jeremiah," Mulder said. "Don't let her give birth to it."

 

 

Oh God, I hadn't even thought that far. I winced. It was too much like the scenes I had to play when Mulder lay in a coma. I had guessed wrong that time. William wasn't a monster, but this new child, if Mulder was right, would be.

 

 

"I'll take care of it, Mulder," I promised.

 

 

OooOooO

 

 

I could hear Scully in the background when I told Jeremiah about Diana and Mulder's claim that she wasn't human.

 

 

Little Red grabbed the phone from Jeremiah. She said, "Is Mulder sure that she's pregnant?"

 

 

"Yeah," I said. "He said she was probably just keeping him alive until she was sure she would be carry to term."

 

 

"I'll take care of Fowley," Scully said.

 

 

"All right," I said, "Be careful. I'll keep Mulder safe for you."

 

 

"If you can hold onto him," Scully said, "he's yours."

 

 

Now what the hell did she mean by that? I couldn't believe Scully would give up on Mulder.

 

 

It was one of the few times I really felt sorry for Scully. She said, "I couldn't stop him from going to Diana."

 

 

"It's not your fault," I said.

 

 

"I know it isn't," Scully said, irritably. "I'm sick of it. I don't want him with Fowley, but we're on the same team now, Alex. You've always wanted him. Hang onto him."

 

 

Scully hung up on me. Bitch. 

 

 

Mulder was still asleep so I thought I would nap too. I undressed, folded my clothes onto a chair, and slipped in naked beside him.

 

 

OooOooO

 

I woke up craving a cigarette. Shit, in all the excitement of looking for Mulder and finding him, I had really put my habit behind me. Now, I needed to feel that first drag, the little burn of the smoke and then the sweet rush to the blood.

 

 

I wondered if anyone up at the big house had a pack they would sell me? I didn't want to leave Mulder alone long enough to go to the store.

 

 

Before I could get up, Mulder reached for me. "I feel like shit," he said.

 

 

My cigarette craving was put aside again. I checked Mulder's forehead for fever and it was definitely hotter.

 

 

"Is Scully coming?" Mulder asked.

 

 

"She's pretty mad at you for leaving her for Fowley," I pointed out.

 

 

"I didn't mean to do it," Mulder said.

 

 

Like he didn't mean to sleep with me back when I was pretty Agent Krycek with the sweet mouth around his big dick... I grunted in disgust. If I was bonking Little Red, I wouldn't give her up for Diana. Not if I valued my balls, anyway.

 

 

Mulder grimaced and said, "I had to see if it was really her."

 

 

"Yeah, I heard that one before too," I said.

 

 

"I heard that we're working on the same side now," Mulder said.

 

 

I decided to go with his feeble attempt to distract me.

 

 

"Yeah, we're playing for the same team," I said.

 

 

"In more ways than one," Mulder said. "I'm going to give up on women. I'm no good with them."

 

 

"No kidding," I said.

 

 

"Hey, like you're God's gift," Mulder said, his voice hoarse and low. "I heard you went to sleep on Marita and she took your prize."

 

 

I guess Marita loved to tell that story. Bitch.

 

 

I need that cigarette again. "You want some water?"

 

 

"Yeah," Mulder said. "Aspirin?"

 

 

"I'll find some," I said. 

 

 

There was a first aid kit and medicine. I even found clothes for Mulder in the closet so I guess Jeremiah had a lot of confidence in me.

 

 

Mulder was sitting up when I walked back into the bedroom. I handed him the glass and the aspirin. 

 

 

"Can you eat something?" I asked. 

 

 

Mulder inspires something in me. I guess you can't call it tenderness, but it was as close as I could muster. I sat down next to him and steadied his hand so he could drink without dribbling half the water down his chin. He leaned into me when he was finished. 

 

 

"You didn't answer me," I said. "I was wondering if you could eat some soup or something like that."

 

 

Mulder grimaced and shook his head. "I ache all over and my stomach's queasy."

 

 

This was not how I envisioned spending some time alone with Mulder. In my fantasies, I was making him scream and he was wearing nothing but a pair of reg handcuffs, but he came around to my way of thinking quickly.

 

 

Instead I was wet-nursing Mulder, doing everything but wiping his ass. Who knows...that might be my next duty.

 

 

The only compensation I had was that Mulder was being cooperative and relatively pleasant. He hadn't been this nice since he was fucking me on a regular basis.

 

 

I wanted to know why he was being so sweet, but then again, I didn't want to spoil it. I didn't hanker for a beating. I'm not that enthralled by Mulder that any way he touches me is good.

 

 

"Give me a hand to the bathroom," Mulder asked.

 

 

Bet it killed him to ask me for that even if he was playing nice. I said, "Sure, Mulder. Come on." 

 

 

I hauled Mulder up and he wobbled with my support to the john. I stood just outside the door. I probably shouldn't have left him alone in there, but, like I said, I didn't feel like wiping his ass for him if I didn't have to do it.

 

 

Mulder made it out okay. I even heard the toilet flush and the sink run. 

 

 

I really needed that cigarette...

 

 

OooOooO

 

Mulder had a rough night and so did I. He thrashed around in his fever and groaned so loud I think they could have heard him at the big house. I gave him more aspirin. He threw it up...I was lucky to get the wastebasket under him in time.

 

 

"Sorry," Mulder said, the look in his eyes remarkably akin to a puppy caught piddling on the carpet.

 

 

"It's okay," I said. "You done?"

 

 

"Think so," Mulder said, curling on his side.

 

 

Where the hell was Jeremiah or whomever he was sending? Part of my irritation was nicotine deprivation, but most of it was genuine irritation. Mulder was still our white queen. Whatever the project intended to make when they mixed his genetic structure, they had succeeded in making a weapon of sorts. Mulder was a catalyst; he made things happen.

 

 

I cleaned up the mess Mulder had made and sprayed some air freshener about. It was some kind of pump spray natural product. Jeremiah was big on ecology. I sighed and went looking for something to put in my mouth.

 

 

No candy. Carrot sticks. I think I'll kill Jeremiah when he shows up.

 

 

Mulder was still awake when I returned from my quest. He said, "Carrot sticks?"

 

 

"I started smoking again," I admitted. "I'm trying to give it up and I have to be doing something with my mouth."

 

 

I knew how sick Mulder was because he didn't make a lewd suggestion about what I could do with my mouth.

 

 

Mulder said, "Thought you hated smoking. Because of him."

 

 

"I do," I answered. "I've just been out on a lot of missions. Not much rest. So I decided to smoke one carton then stop."

 

 

"You're smarter than that," Mulder replied.

 

 

"What makes you think so?" I answered. "I fucked around with more addictive stuff than that."

 

 

Christ, I looked at Mulder sitting naked on the bed. He wasn't even that beautiful, little paunch, skinny runner's legs, big nose, and all. 

 

 

Who the hell was I trying to fool? You could send in seventeen dancing girls and as many pretty boys; I'd still spend more time looking at Mulder. Funny, I saw the video of Morris Fletcher walking around in Mulder's body. I would have known it wasn't him. It's the Mulder inside this body that makes him beautiful. It's his dry wit, his brilliant, restless mind, and his spirit that keeps fighting back no matter what pit of despair he's in.

 

 

Addictions...the cigarettes were easy to quit. Fox Mulder is another case. I can't even make myself want to break my need for him.

 

 

"Something, Alex?" Mulder asked.

 

 

"Just thinking about you and nicotine," I said.

 

 

"If I felt better, I'd give you something good to suck on," Mulder said.

 

 

"You think too much of yourself, Mulder," I said.

 

 

Despite his sickness, Mulder grinned. He said, "I haven't had too many complaints."

 

 

Yeah, we were a select club, those that Mulder touched, let touch him. Maybe we should start a support group...

 

 

Mulder said, "Come to bed with me, Alex. Hold me."

 

 

I went to Mulder like his willing slave. We held each other, his feverish body over-heating me, his hair damp with bitter sweat. I still buried my face in the crook of his neck. It felt like the only home I will ever know. 

 

 

Mulder's hand gently touched me, relearning my body. He said, "I'm glad they gave your arm back, Alex."

 

 

"Me too," I said.

 

 

"And here we are," Mulder said. "Think we can make it work now that we're all grown up?"

 

 

"Yeah," I said, not even thinking about the answer. "Yeah, we can. We're on the same side." Without him asking, I said, "No more switching sides, Mulder. To the gallows's foot."

 

 

His laugh was all Mulder. He said, "And after, Alex?"

 

 

Mulder moved me back, lifted my chin so I couldn't hide my eyes. I could lie with the best of them, but I always had trouble keeping the truth from my eyes. I think he was looking straight into my black soul, but his gaze was so pure that it restored me.

 

 

"Forever, Alex," Mulder said.

 

 

"No more Fowley?" I asked.

 

 

"You're going to have to get the poison out of me before that happens," Mulder replied.

 

 

So he was being honest too. I don't know if this Mulder and this Krycek could survive all this truth.

 

 

"Scully's on the job," I replied.

 

 

"Yeah, I hope she's being careful and that she took backup," Mulder said.

 

 

"She will be and she did," I said. "You didn't corrupt her entirely.

 

 

"That would be impossible," Mulder said.

 

 

"I know," I agreed, giving to Mulder my respect for Scully.

 

 

"Sounds like she's done with me anyway," Mulder said.

 

 

"She's still your partner," I reassured. "When you're better, we'll all be working together."

 

 

"End of sleeping together," Mulder said.

 

 

"Yeah," I said, trying not to smile at the thought.

 

 

"Well, you've never said 'no' to me," Mulder said. "Unless you're just trying to let me down gently."

 

 

"No, you still have me," I said. "Little Red told me to keep you for her."

 

 

It was a nicer way of saying what Scully told me. I could see Mulder considering and rejecting my words.

 

 

"Come to bed now, Alex," Mulder said.

 

 

And I did.

 

 

OooOooO

 

The healer showed up the next morning, running his hands over Mulder's wounds after taking some cell samples. It took a little persuasion to get him to free me of my nicotine problem when he was done with Mulder.

 

 

Mulder didn't exactly leap out of bed, ready for a marathon and he wasn't exactly ready for a marathon bout of sex either. I could wait though. We were going to have a lot of time for that. Well, maybe not, but we would make time.

 

 

Scully called while Mulder was eating a bowl of soup later that day. It surprised the hell out of me that neither partner insisted on direct conversation with each other.

 

 

"The bitch is dead," Scully said.

 

 

"You killed her?" I asked.

 

 

"No," Scully said, sounding disappointed and not hiding it well. "She was in that apartment. She had a miscarriage, I guess. Or something. Her ...babies were eating her body. They had spider like characteristics."

 

 

"What?" I asked. I wasn't sure if I wanted an answer to my question. Fowley's brood was part Mulder. It would have been difficult for me to deal with them if they had any resemblance to him. I cleared my throat and then asked, "What was done about that situation?"

 

 

"Jeremiah's people took care of them," Scully said. "They're dead."

 

 

"Thank God," I said. 

 

 

"Alex, Jeremiah wants me to spend some time with the healers, have them make sure the cancer is totally gone. So take your time up there," Scully said.

 

 

Scully's voice sounded sad. I asked, "You sure about that?" 

 

 

"No," Scully admitted, "but love him for me too, Alex. Love him hard for me."

 

 

"I will," I said. 

 

 

I don't know. Scully may grow on me.

 

 

I walked over and Mulder gazed at me with his sad, expressive eyes. "Is it over?"

 

 

I nodded. 

 

 

"Is she dead?" Mulder asked.

 

 

I could have concealed the truth, softened it or I could have told him that Scully killed Diana just to make sure of my place in Mulder's life. I did neither. I said, "Diana gave birth. She didn't make it. The offspring had arachnid genes. They had to be killed."

 

 

"I don't want any more children," Mulder said.

 

 

Well, I guess sleeping with me should take care of that. Mulder held his hand up to me as I stood over him. He clasped my hand hard; his eyes fixed on the table. He wouldn't cry for her. He wouldn't cry for the way the project heaped this last indignity on him, this painful travesty of fatherhood, but his hand trembled in mine.

 

 

We went outside, looking at the good green earth, sitting close on the porch, wrapped up in each other. It's a good planet. Despite all the darkness that I've seen, I look at Mulder and I think I could learn to be proud to be human. I think he's worth fighting for. 

 

 

Wish us all luck.

 

 

The end

 

 

These were my lyrics sent to me by Kashmir. I didn't think that I could do anything with them and didn't use much of the spirit of the song, but the poison theme gave me the idea of poison. There's no April Fool in the story, but the eternal sacred fool that is Mulder.

 

 

Little Drop Of Poison - Tom Waits 

 

I like my town with a little drop of poison

Nobody knows they're lining up to go insane

I'm all alone, I smoke my friends down to the filter

But I feel much cleaner after it rains

 

She left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall

She always had that little drop of poison She left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall

She always had that little drop of poison

 

Did the devil make the world while god was sleeping

Someone said you'll never get a wish from a bone

Another wrong good-bye and a hundred sailors

That deep blue sky is my home

 

She left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall

She always had that little drop of poison

She left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall

She always had that little drop of poison

 

A rat always knows when he's in with weasels

Here you lose a little every day

I remember when a million was a million

They all have ways to make you pay

They all have ways to make you pay


End file.
